Many of us who are familiar with UofT campus and walk around it avidly are probably aware of the underpass that works as a separation between Wellesley Street West/Queens Park Circle and Hart House Circle. On the walls of this underpass lies a large mural which represents the figures which are considered the highest heights of classical knowledge. Renderings of Aristotle, Plato and a Madonna-esque figure are displayed in heavenly glory, their bodies hovering above the sidewalk, wrapped in loose regal cloth and faces marked with wisdom and benevolence. Among this overtly sentimental ode to classicism walks the figure of what was clearly meant to indicate the average University of Toronto student. Why, it’s nothing less than the perfect example of the all-Canadian Varsity student! The figure was originally presented as a white young male with dirty blonde hair, wearing a UofT Blues Varsity Jacket and rocking blue jeans.
However some may resist the urge to be so quick as to question such a mural. Why is it problematic? Some may provide the quick answer that this mural was painted long ago (the jacket worn by the student suggests a mere 14 years old), and that was the reality then. Others may suggest that it is simply artistic expression while some may simply respond, “who cares?”
And yet…there has been an outcry- a refusal of acceptance to what is deemed to be the “average”, although it is a covert refusal. Fairly recently, I have discovered that there has been a slow but continuous resistance to the depiction as reflective of the University of Toronto experience. In early spring 2008, I noticed the word “Eurocentrism” was scrawled onto the white spaces of the depiction. Later still, the head and hands of the figure in the jacket were transformed from the happy white male to an unsatisfied, longer haired black one. A few months after a thought bubble containing the phrase “decolonize this shit” was added. Recently, I noticed the figure of Huey Newton (co-founder and leader of the Black Panther movement) had been spray painted onto the entry of the underpass.
So, what does this mean? Firstly, large portions of St. George campus are bodies of colour. Also, lack of acknowledgement to this fact is an act of oppression. Further more, the knowledge that is idealized within Humanities comes from European high culture. You may ask, “What’s wrong with that?” I would respond that any monolithic idealization of a single culture is problematic in a society that claims to be all-inclusive and equitable. So, while we are ingesting the proclamation that equity and valuing of all practices and knowledge are important to certain institutions of learning, why is it that bodies of colour feel suppressed in a way that cannot be communicated and dealt with more easily and openly? Perhaps we should be more apt to questioning the valuing of culture and knowledge in institutions of higher learning and really look to see who possesses visibility and power on campus apart from tokenism…
I have to say that having a white person portrayed as the typical student is a racial profile of who a typical university student was. It makes it seem as though blacks WERE not good enough or smart enough for post-secondary education. Moreover, having portraits of philosophers like Aristotle works to harm the attitudes of blacks. It makes blacks feel that their ancestors a long time ago contributed very little to civilization when in fact societies in Africa were quite advanced and did develop quite intricate civilizations. Moreover it perpetuates the notion that all great thinkers were white and that all great ideas were introduced by white men. I think what the Huey Newton reference alludes to is the frustration by the black community about the lack of respect and lack of recognition that their history and past gets from mainstream white Eurocentric culture. The black community is shouting out their frustrations and anger about the lack of respect they feel their history gets by drawing the picture of a man who, in many ways, was responsible for an elevation in the amount of pride the black community had for their history. Huey Newton is a symbol of black pride because of what he instilled in the black community. In conclusion, blacks are frustrated about the lack of respect that is given to their history and because of this they turn to a man in Huey Newton who played a large role in creating black pride.
ReplyDeleteWell that underpass that works as a separation between Wellesley Street West/Queens Park Circle and Hart House Circle. They have now painted over a few of the pictures one Shows the TTC..another shows a person reading books..but as you can see nothing that represents our black heritage..It is very very sad....YC
ReplyDeleteI should start by saying I am black, so as to put the following comments I will make in context.
ReplyDeleteI think we as black people have been nursing our pain for far too long and need to let it go. The reason I say this is not to give the white man an easy out per se, but because it is crippling us.
Instead on putting our focus on being innovative and building for the future (look at how Asians have done this in a couple of generations), we are instead busy trying to right what happened in the past. It's done. And there is nothing we can do about it.
Now our focus is that we get up on our feet. Having a cry all the time just makes us look weak and seem like we are looking for handouts.
In 50 years time that mural you talk of will pay homage to Chinese culture. That shit won't be handed to them. They will take it.
Lets leave the victim mentality behind please, it only does us harm.
I think what is being called for here is not a victim mentality but a unified step in the right direction. The right direction being a future without systemic racism and without institutions that continue to victimize people of colour. A victim mentality was not adopted by black students at UofT they were victimized. Very different. Yes, holding on to pain can cripple however it also is an excellent driving force to keep working towards change. You have to know your history to understand what is happening today.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, I think striving for unity is futile, people will always divide themselves (black or white/anybody else). So good luck with trying to achieve that. I guess there were instances of that during the civil rights era when there was one giant white machine for everybody to unite against, but in this day where there is a broad spectrum of views and western individualism is winning, I dunno how well you will achieve a "unified step in the right direction", or what one would be anyway. <-- Maybe you can explain what that constitutes exactly?
ReplyDeleteCould you expand on how institutions are "victimizing" people of colour? More specifically, how is the U of T (the institution, not vapid SMC students) are actively victimizing people of colour? This is a sincere question on my part, as I do not really perceive any victimization on a daily basis, especially when victimization is viewed through the lens of apartheid South Africa/Israel or pre 1960s/70s USA.
Finally, I think there is a distinction between knowing your history, and actively instilling a sense of entitlement into the black psyche.